Several minutes later, the battle was over. Justice Katou had left the ring and, as promised, handed over the orb. This fifth orb had a faint pink glow about it.
“Thank you very much, Justice Katou!”
Aria had removed all of her flashy accessories and was back in her normal outfit, smiling quite nicely at her vanquished opponent.
“My pleasure! That was a rockin’ hot battle, little missy! Next time you’re in town, let’s have another Monster Duel!”
Justice Katou flashed her a bright smile, showing off his nice, white teeth, looking a bit bashful, even, as he made this invitation. Wataru put his hands on his hips and asked him:
“Hey, Justice Katou! Do you think you could tell us where the last orb is!?”
Wataru & Co. now had five orbs! In order to fight the dragon, they would need one more. Justice Katou, still looking a bit shyly over at Aria, answered him thusly:
“Huh? The last orb? I dunno! I’ve got nooooooooooo idea where that is!!”
Checkmate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a terrible turn of events! To have come all this way, only to find themselves in the precarious situation of having no idea where the next orb was!
“Whaaaat!! Hey, Justice Katou! What the hell do you mean, ‘you don’t know’!!”
“Uhhh, what? I mean, that’s not a thing that I know? How else can I say it?”
“But—But...!!”
Wataru was drowning in despair, his face completely blue with sorrow as he cradled his head in his arms! Without knowing the location of the next orb, the story can’t continue!
There’s nothing else I can do! For the rest of the remaining pages in this book, I’ll list all the things that I’d like to talk about if I could be a guest star on a radio show with a young female voice actress!!
—Or at least that’s what I’d like to do, but Wataru still hadn’t given up!
“Damn it all! At a time like this, the only thing we can do is go on a fact-finding mission!!”
✦ ✦ ✦
“...But having said that,” Wataru muttered, “where do we start!?”
“Not surprising that you’re lost already. You think it’s that easy to find out where an orb is?” countered Résistance.
Having discovered that Justice Katou did not know the location of the final orb, the three adventurers exited the Toys ‘B’ We Revant Branch Store with dark expressions on their faces and went back out into the city.
They needed to search for the final orb, somehow. Try as they might, however, they had nowhere to start in their quest to gather information. This investigation may have been the most difficult challenge they’d faced so far.
“Before we worry about all that, why don’t we go find something to eat?” Aria asked. “After that Monster Duel, I’ve worked up an appetite.” In Aria’s arms lay the five orbs. All of them glowed different colors, each one mysteriously beautiful. It was easy to believe that they, just as the dragon had said, truly did possess a “strange power.”
But then, something unexpected happened!
“...Huh!?!?”
Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!!!!
All five of the orbs in Aria’s arms began to shine blindingly brightly!!
“Ahhh! I can’t see, I can’t see!”
Aria had instantly snapped her eyes shut due to the sudden burst of light! The beams of light blasting from the five orbs merged together into a single ray, shining right in the direction of a mountain of somewhat middling height to the southwest!!
“Could this be... Do you think that the light of these orbs will lead us to the location of the last one?” Résistance stroked her chin as she watched the orbs with interest!
Wataru’s dark expression disappeared, and was replaced with a joyful smile!! “I’ve got no idea, but there’s no harm in looking there! Let’s go check it out!!”
Just the type of decision we’d expect from a Real Man like Wataru, a man who acts before he thinks! In times like this, his firm determination to act allows for no deviation from the path towards the goal!!
“Whaaaat!? We’re not going to eat!?””
Squinting her eyes against the bright light of the orbs, Aria whined about this new plan! Wataru and Résistance completely ignored her complaints and immediately began sprinting to the southwest!
“H-Hey! Wait up, you two—!!”
And so our final act begins: the Quest for the Final Orb!!
To be continued in the next chapter: “Guardian Spirit of the Orbs, Awaken!”
*Sources:
[5] A History of Freestyle Rapping — Isekai Tensei Publishing